Erin Raftery Ryan, Executive Director of NAMI Westside Los Angeles and Randy Ryan, veteran & philanthropist who has dedicated his work to at-risk children and fellow vets.NAMI Westside Los Angeles recently launched a dynamic social media campaign called FREE YOUR ME (FYM) aimed at normalizing mental health for the youth community. The goal is to end the stigma+shame around mental health, and encourage kids and teens to reach out for help. The stats* on youth mental health were already alarming pre-pandemic, and then COVID created a perfect storm of isolation, anxiety and trauma, which in turn generated a tsunami need for youth mental health services across the U.S. The FYM movement kicked off on World Mental Health Day (Oct 10) with a wave of high-profile entertainment VIPs and athletes who shared synchronized social media posts of evocative portrait images, coupled with their own personal stories+experiences around mental health. Designed to encourage their audience to open up - a critical first step – and share their own stories, the reach is in the 100s of thousands and still growing as more ambassadors continue to post. It’s quite striking visually - take a look here, and more info below.The launch also came on the heels of Gov Gavin Newsom signing a mental health education bill (SB224) that will provide millions of CA students with mandated age-appropriate mental health education+resources. NAMI is working on getting similar bills introduced across the U.S. Many of the educational resources and support services that NAMI offers can be found here, and they’ve also recently created NAMI Homefront, a free educational program for families, caregivers and friends of military service members and veterans with mental health conditions. The mental health crisis among veterans is another urgent situation that is having profound effects on society, and will likely intensify as thousands of Afghan vets attempt to settle back into their communities. Providing accessible services to vets & their families is the best way we can honor them this Veterans Day, and every day after. For more information about FREE YOUR METM visit https://freeyourme.namila.org/ or https://www.freeyourme.com/Connect here:@freeyourmeofficial@NAMIWLA@pureedgeinc@jennifercawleyphotographs

Ver todos los episodios